I expect this "70D" to be a 7D with wifi and a slightly lower build quality with a reduction of minor features (1/4000th shutter, 1/200th flash sync, 5fps, SD card slot, no PC sync and no headphone jack)

Since the 60D is already at 1/8000th shutter speed, it is a fairly good bet that a 70D will not be 1/4000th.

The plastic body which makes the 60D lighter is not really a bad thing on my list either.

+1 - when I bought the 60d I was very weary of the plastic body and even considered buying one of the last 50d - today I know that it doesn't make much of a difference, if I drop the camera the first thing to break is the lens or parts of the camera that aren't protected by a metal body either (displays, flash, ...).

Looking good to be returning to build of 40d/50d hope it is in same body as the 7d and would come with Wi-fi and GPS like the great 6D.

I'm pretty sure it'll be the same body size as the 60d - Canon obviously thinks this size and layout has a future or they wouldn't have put the 6d in it. Imho the only questions are:

... will the 70d have gps/wifi and not an internal flash (that's where the antennas are on the 6d)? Or can they do both, probably in a full plastic body again for the gps/wifi signal?

... will Canon just do a 650d-style sensor update for live view af with maybe some iso optimizations like on the 6d - or will they really put a new sensor gen in it? My bet is that only the 7d2 in the end of 2013 will get a really new sensor, Canon has enough other firmware and hardware improvements in store to make the 70d a noticeable update from the 60d.

No new camera launches by Canon at Focus on Imaging, Birmingham. Camera world had dropped the 60d body to £ 510 (with Canon £ 60 cash back offer) and bundled Lightroom 4 and a 16GB SDHC card, they sold out!

The 7d was not lowered in price but was also bundled with Lightroom 4 and strangely the same 16GB SDHC card even though the camera uses a CF UDMA card. The other company selling kit was Calumet but they were slightly more expensive than Camera World.

Canon denied all knowledge as you would expect of a replacement for the 60d but we can safely assume from the show deal price its coming soon.

Ive only just bought the Canon 7d my initial "list" of improvement for a a 7d MKII would be the following:-

Slightly increased MP count to 20 - 22MP Second CF card slot or SDHC slot for recording JPEGS at same time as RAW to different cardsTwin DIGIC 5 for faster readout to cope with increased MPA break from the Pro series cameras by adding articulating screen

I personally dont see why everyone feels the need to upgrade every two seconds. I need to upgrade my 3 year old 7D!

Meanwhile, its only got 1200 shutter clicks on it.

That's almost new..... mine is at 2700 for this year and I am sure that some of the forum members are way beyond that.... if you figure that the shutter is rated for 150,000 clicks then at this rate you are set for the next 372 years before you reach the rated number of shots...